Envoy is currently in Gouvia Marina at the Greek island of Corfu undergoing maintenance.
Our last posting included a picture of a classic-looking 90 metre older-style ship. A reader informs us this is in fact a vessel called Nero, built in China in 2007 and currently for sale at 60 million Euros. But although a replica she still looks great.
With Doug and Mary we hired a car and driver for a day tour of mountain villages near Cefalu within the Madonie Regional Park on Sicily’s central northern coast.
Morning coffee in the village of Glatteri with our guide, Marco
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The Gibilmanna monastery and its church dating from the 17th century were of special significance to Marco as he got married here
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The monastery’s stunning gold altar
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A beautiful archway leads into a hidden courtyard
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The mountains of the Regional Park rise to nearly 2,000 metres
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At the village of Pollina we came across a group of young boys playing soccer and Mary asked them to line up for a group photo – they were happy to oblige
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Pollina is set on a mountain top
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View of Cefalu area from Pollina
Laurie, Di, Mary and Doug at Pollina
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Nuvarra is yet another stunning village
Our favourite village was Castelbuono where we enjoyed a sumptuous lunch of wild boar hocks in the stunning wood-paneled Ristorante Nangalarruni, set in the middle of a maze of cobbled lanes - we’d never have found it without our guide.
Wild boar hocks for lunch
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The castle here was built in 1316 and remains in great shape, supposedly haunted by a ghostly apparition of Queen Constance Chiaramonte.
After leaving Cefalu we’d planned to berth at Marina Capo D’Orlando. Arriving outside the marina with a 20 knot onshore wind and one to two metre swells we peered inside but couldn’t see any yacht masts or larger motor vessels, but did notice some sand banks and apparent silting. Not wanting to take any chances in the adverse lee-shore conditions we cruised on to anchor inside a lagoon sheltered by an extensive sandbank south east of Capo Tindari, near the village of Marinello. While most of the anchorages along this coast are fully exposed except to the south, this one had reasonable shelter from all directions except the east, and we stayed a couple of nights.
August is peak holiday time and ashore is busy with mostly local tourists, while large RHIBs between five to nine metres predominate on the water. There are no apparent safe boating regulations, such as we have in New Zealand, so all day long RHIBs, jet skis, ferries and other vessels travel at speed close inshore and close to other vessels, creating large wakes and making us thankful for our flopper stoppers.
TECHNICAL – nothing to report
Our last posting included a picture of a classic-looking 90 metre older-style ship. A reader informs us this is in fact a vessel called Nero, built in China in 2007 and currently for sale at 60 million Euros. But although a replica she still looks great.
With Doug and Mary we hired a car and driver for a day tour of mountain villages near Cefalu within the Madonie Regional Park on Sicily’s central northern coast.
Morning coffee in the village of Glatteri with our guide, Marco
The Gibilmanna monastery and its church dating from the 17th century were of special significance to Marco as he got married here
The monastery’s stunning gold altar
A beautiful archway leads into a hidden courtyard
At the village of Pollina we came across a group of young boys playing soccer and Mary asked them to line up for a group photo – they were happy to oblige
Pollina is set on a mountain top
View of Cefalu area from Pollina
Laurie, Di, Mary and Doug at Pollina
Nuvarra is yet another stunning village
Our favourite village was Castelbuono where we enjoyed a sumptuous lunch of wild boar hocks in the stunning wood-paneled Ristorante Nangalarruni, set in the middle of a maze of cobbled lanes - we’d never have found it without our guide.
Wild boar hocks for lunch
The castle here was built in 1316 and remains in great shape, supposedly haunted by a ghostly apparition of Queen Constance Chiaramonte.
After leaving Cefalu we’d planned to berth at Marina Capo D’Orlando. Arriving outside the marina with a 20 knot onshore wind and one to two metre swells we peered inside but couldn’t see any yacht masts or larger motor vessels, but did notice some sand banks and apparent silting. Not wanting to take any chances in the adverse lee-shore conditions we cruised on to anchor inside a lagoon sheltered by an extensive sandbank south east of Capo Tindari, near the village of Marinello. While most of the anchorages along this coast are fully exposed except to the south, this one had reasonable shelter from all directions except the east, and we stayed a couple of nights.
August is peak holiday time and ashore is busy with mostly local tourists, while large RHIBs between five to nine metres predominate on the water. There are no apparent safe boating regulations, such as we have in New Zealand, so all day long RHIBs, jet skis, ferries and other vessels travel at speed close inshore and close to other vessels, creating large wakes and making us thankful for our flopper stoppers.
TECHNICAL – nothing to report
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